Why all games MUST be like Borderlands (because I'm a viral marketer for Borderlands)
#1

I posted this over on another site, but I thought it would be interesting to get into a raging debate about it over on the Gaf. I wanted to see if additional viewpoints come up, so I can develop the story further.

Despite all the great games coming out, Borderlands has become my No.1 MUST BUY GAME for the holiday season. I would even go as far as saying that ALL games from now on need to look upon Borderlands as a shining example of what a great game should be like. That’s a bold statement when you realize that I haven’t even played the game.

From the get go, Borderlands has been touting key features which I believe all games from now on NEED to have. In other words, no more excuses for building a game that falls short.

4 Player Co-op
This feature has become so critical in my gaming choices that I would coordinate on a regular basis with friends of mine, and outline which games we would get next time so that we can play together.

Now, there is a RIGHT way to include 4 player co-op.
1. You MUST allow people to jump in and out of a game at anytime.
2. You MUST allow 4 players to play through the entire single player experience. Don’t trick me to believing that you got 4 player co-op and then limited it to 2-3 stages. I’m looking at you Turok: Dinosaur Hunter!
3. Don’t force me to play through the entire single player game to unlock multiplayer features!

I’m sorry Modern Warfare 2, but stripping out 4 player co-op was a big mistake. In summary:

Single player = Masturbation

4 player co-op = Orgy

RPG Elements
Borderlands stands out in the vast crowd of generic shooter games because it incorporates a heavy amount of RPG elements, thus making the experience much deeper, and personalized.

I predict that by next year, if you don’t include customized stats, game reviewers will start to ding you. We are at that turning point in gaming history where the old way of doing things just won’t fly anymore, like when we moved from 2D FPS to 3d FPS. Or when games allowed to you save any time, instead of forcing you to save at arbitrary points in the game.

Unique Character Choices
Borderlands offers up the opportunity to play as 4 different classes, each one with a unique play style. You have the Brick (Tank), The Lilith (Assassin), Mordecai (Hunter), and a Roland (Soldier.) What cool about each class is that you have a skill tree which you can deck out as well, which can result in very different play styles even if everyone on your team is the same class.

Even games like Left 4 Dead and Halo didn't live up to my expectations, because I find that when I play the games with friends, I feel like my character was nothing more than an assembly line created Model T Ford. There’s nothing about my character that stands out beyond some simple aesthetics. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Left 4 Dead initially, but I eventually didn’t really care who I played. All the characters moved the same, used the same weapons, and had no back story that makes you want to play through the game several times to see how each person’s story unfolds.

Why don’t we see more of these features in every game?
Despite my keen interest in doing my part in encouraging every developer to add all of these elements into their game, I realize that there are some real challenges to do so. These particular features require significant additional development resources to pull off. A simple shooter is suddenly complicated by multiple branching paths to how the game could be played. Imagine trying to design, and test a game that introduces hundreds of ways a gamer could do something that could deviate from what you planned for initially. In addition, there is the additional challenge of trying to tell a tightly narrative story, similar to Modern Warfare 2. The developers admitted that the main reason why they removed 4 player co-op in the single player missions is because it breaks the storytelling.

But let’s separate the excuses from the reality. The reality is that you can STILL build in 4 player co-op play into a narrative driven game. And while the story may not unfold the same as a single player game, having the OPTION to play with others is what I seek. I can still enjoy the single player story, and get the added bonus of enjoy the multiplayer co-op.

So the reality is that developers are strategically making the choice to cut these feature, rather than include them, because they are determining that it won’t hurt sale enough if you didn’t 4 player co-op, or RPG elements in a game, or unique customizable characters.

"All games should be more like the games I like. I will also ignore the fact that any of these features would take time out of a development process that may be better spent on other parts of development for certain games."

Despite all the great games coming out, Borderlands has become my No.1 MUST BUY GAME for the holiday season. I would even go as far as saying that ALL games from now on need to look upon Borderlands as a shining example of what a great game should be like. That’s a bold statement when you realize that I haven’t even played the game.

No one else has to even say anything, this statement alone is quite enough.

Yes, let's demand more game design by the back of the box bulletpoint committee. Man, I can't wait to have more over the shoulder, cover-based shooters shovelled down my throat! The icing on the cake was when you derided any studio that does not include your preferences with the good old "lazy devs" chestnut.